SPHERE conducted a post-event survey to evaluate the experience of the participants, identify the success and improvement areas of the event. 22 responses were received from 14 countries.
Among other questions, the participants were asked to share any examples from their institution or national context related to values in higher education. See below the examples shared through the survey.
Lebanon | A useful Haigazian example is the 2021 online conference on Religion, Education, and Peace, organized in partnership with the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning. The conference brought together international and Lebanese perspectives on how religion and education can contribute to peacebuilding in plural and conflict-affected societies. In Lebanon, where religion, schooling, identity, and political belonging are deeply intertwined, this initiative represented values in action: dialogue across difference, respect for religious diversity, academic inquiry, public responsibility, and service to social cohesion. Its relevance was strengthened by the related research project involving six Lebanese private faith-based schools, in which Haigazian students were engaged as researchers and data collectors. • To shed light on the role of conflict, reconciliation, and peacebuilding in religious education in Lebanon; • To investigate the role of conflict, reconciliation, and peacebuilding in the transmission of personal faith and spirituality in the context of family and school (by parents/guardians and teachers, not exclusively religion teachers) and the reception by students; • To compare the role of religion in conflict, reconciliation, and peacebuilding in religious education in Lebanon with other contexts, especially contexts of recent sectarian conflict; Through this engagement, students did not only study values abstractly; they practiced them through ethical listening, respectful inquiry, empathy, intellectual openness, and responsible handling of sensitive perspectives on religion, conflict, and peace. This makes the initiative a concrete example of values becoming institutionally visible, pedagogically lived, and socially meaningful in the Lebanese context. The findings were revealing because participants generally endorsed peacebuilding at the theoretical level, yet their views about other religious communities and their contribution to peace reflected tensions, mistrust, and inherited social perceptions. This mirrors Lebanon’s fragmented society and shows why peace education cannot remain abstract. It must create structured opportunities for dialogue, empathy, critical reflection, and more honest engagement with difference. |
Morocco | In my institutional and national context, values in higher education are promoted through policies and practices aimed at ensuring academic integrity, equal access, student-centered learning, and international cooperation. Examples include the adoption of codes of ethics and academic integrity guidelines, quality assurance procedures, measures supporting inclusion and diversity, and participation in Erasmus+ and other international projects that foster cooperation, capacity building, and the exchange of good practices aligned with European higher education values. |
Kosovo | My institution has a freedom on selecting own goal (which study programs to apply for accreditation), to select own rector and dean, equality, respect the academic ethics, and the rule of law |
Kosovo | The new law 59-24 of HE in Morocco is opening the discussion for this question of Values in HE |
Lebanon | We, at the NEO office, respect all the conditions of the Code of Conduct which we sign as part of our contract. We also implement our activities in full alignment with the standard international principles of values. |
The full evaluation report is made available to the funder of the project.